negotiating against yourself. >> right. >> the president is taking a hard line right now because he has -- he feels as though he campaigned strongly for the past year. >> while both sides muddle out a middle ground, the white house is turning up the heat and rolling out a full-court press of sorts. part 1, a new report out today showing how tax hike fears could impact consumer spending during the all-important holiday shopping season. part 2, the president's plans to take the issue straight to the voters and campaign style appearances and the use of an army of campaign volunteers to sell his message on tax hikes. the hope, that the coalition that put president obama back in office will help him ramp up the pressure on congress to make a deal. joining me now, chris van hollen and also a member of the house budget committee, congressman, good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, craig. great to be with you. >> the national journal reporting that the president could hold events related to the cliff this week. what are you hearing?

>> well, i think that's right. i don't think anything has been settled. there have been on going conversations, but obviously the discussion will heat up this week now that the thanksgiving is behind us. >> what does the white house hope to accomplish with these types of events? >> well, look, this was not a side issue in the campaign. throughout the last presidential campaign the president made very clear that his number one focus was jobs and the economy and also having a long-term plan to reduce the deficit in a balanced way and that means in addition to cuts you would also have revenue, revenue that you get by asking higher income earners to pay a little bit more to reduce the deficit and so the president was really clear in the campaign and i think it is really important that he take that discussion to the country now because he has said to the congress, the president said to the congress, just extend immediately all the middle class tax cuts and then we can decide

what to do with folks at the higher end. again, it is important to understand the president has proposed that everybody get continued tax relief, existing tax rates, on the first $250,000 of family income, so he says let's extend that for everybody right now, but he believes we should ask higher income individuals to pay a little bit more. >> house majority leader eric cantor was on morning joe talking about the grover norquist tax pledge and whether he like other republicans would be willing to jump ship. here is his answer. >> there is a lot that has been said about this pledge and i will tell you when i go to the constituents that have elected and re-elected me, it is not about that pledge. it really is about trying to solve problems. >> the majority of those who distanced themselves from norquist so far have been senate gop members, not house gop members. do you think that speaker boehner and congressman cantor,

do you think they can make any leeway with the caucus on a tax increase? >> well, only time will tell. this is the big question. you're asking the big question because the speaker has set the right tone. now it is time for the right substance. now it is time for the speaker to put his plan on the table. after all, the president hasn't been secret about his plan. the president's plan is there for everybody to see, every american can go to the president's budget plan to see his combination of tax increases on the wealthy in addition to cuts, but speaker boehner has again set the right tone but so far hasn't come up with any substance. >> which entitlements if any are democrats prepared to put on the reform table? >> well, democrats are prepared to continue to build on the progress we made in the affordable care act. we just have a very different approach than republicans when it comes to entitlement reform. republicans have said we should simply transfer rising health care costs onto the backs of

seniors. we reject that approach. we have said we need to change the incentives within the medicare program, move away from a fee for service system which does lead to higher costs, but we would not take -- we would not simply take those rising costs and put them on the backs of seniors as the republican plan would. >> yes or no, do you support raising the retirement age? >> no, i do not support raising the retirement age. as i said, i think the best approach to dealing with this is to build on the progress that we made in the affordable care act which is already showing signs of slowly bending the cost curve in health care. we need to do more, but we shouldn't do it by simply transferring the risks and costs onto the backs of seniors and that's the very different approach that we have taken from our republican colleagues. >> a growing group of liberal fiscal cliff jumpers if you will as they're being called, they seem to be willing to risk everything, jump off the cliff if social safety nets face deep cuts while tax rates stay low

for the wealthy. do you think that is smart politics or could it backfire against democrats? >> i think what the president has said is the right approach to take which is that we want to do everything we can to avoid the fiscal cliff consistent with what he said during the campaign which is that, number one, we have to focus on jobs and the jobs plan and, number two, we have to ask higher income individuals to start paying a little bit more to reduce the debt because if you don't, simple math tells you you will hit everybody else harder. the president's priority has been to protect the middle class and do that by asking higher income earners to pay a little bit more. so i think the president has been clear. he has set forward a plan to prevent us from going over the fiscal cliff and the choice republicans have is are they going to continue to insist on saying that nobody in the country gets additional tax relief unless higher income earners get this bonus tax break

because that's the position republicans have taken so far. maybe in the last couple days there has been a change in that but only when we see the substance of their proposal will we know. >> congressman chris van hollen, always a pleasure. thank you, sir. >> good to be with you. bring in the monday political power panel, reed wilson, editor and chief of national journal hot line, karen finney, and also republican strategist hogan gidley, former communications director for rick santor santorum's presidential campaign. karen, start with you, the full-court press of obama voters ramping up to fiscal cliff talks, out with a new report today showing the impact, losing middle class tax cuts and even the thought of it could have on holiday shopping and spending. combine that with the new poll showing the majority of americans, 45%, would blame the gop and congress and not the president if these fiscal cliff talks fail. are we seeing a white house not willing to lose this pr war no

matter the outcome of the talks? >> i think you're seeing a gop that has yet to accept the election results, sort of negotiating with themselves about what they will and won't accept without acknowledging the polls you just cited and the other thing is a strong majority actually also wants a deal. they want a compromise, a balanced compromise. as the republicans are negotiating with themselves over here, the administration and the rest of america is kind of in another place and i think the administration rightly so and remember this was an issue when the president was first elected, there were questions about whether or not he would use the power of that database of people. i think it is a great thing and i hope he does it because i think it is important people you said outside of washington know the kinds of gains going on on capitol hill and the things this people voted for not being acted upon by republicans. >> as i was talking with congressman van holen, again, there is a growing number of gop

folk that is seem to be backing away from grover norquist's tax pledge. given that the very idea of raising taxes could be damaging to any republican who might be facing a primary in the next year, is there really enough support for shunning norquist at this point? >> you remember, even when george bush was president, democrats said they wouldn't cut taxes at all. bush ended up winning that pr battle and the conversation wasn't about whether they would cut taxes and how much they would cut taxes and conversely here what we have is the president moving forward with his agenda which was to raise taxes and now a republicans who had their heels firmly dug in are now saying instead of not raising taxes let's just talk about how much we're going to raise taxes, so it appears for the most part now conservatives are looking at changing some of the things they talked about and pledged when they were running for office and look this is a

bigger issue to me. it is not necessarily about grover norquist or a pledge and what you run on as you head to congress. some of these speeches and we have all heard them and been to the rallies. they make promises that are virtually impossible to keep and that's the problem with the governance, the mind of not moving the ball forward in the current congress. you can't make promises you can't keep. these types of i will never do this and always do that, that's a bad way to start things off and you're seeing that now because they're having to change the rhetoric. >> i want to play sound from grover norquist. let's play it and i want to talk to you about it on the other side. take a listen. >> no pledge taker has voted for a tax increase. you have had people discussing impure thoughts on national television. we would highlight who has kept the commitment and who hasn't. >> interesting. the two most prominent voice that is have come out in opposition to norquist's pledge,

chambliss, the republican from georgia and lindsey graham, the republican from being is is being could see primary challenges this year. lindsey graham is a constant target of more conservative elements within the republican party and already seen stories about some members of congress contemplating running against chambliss in that primary. that's the big threat here. americans for tax reform spent big money this year on house races around the country and on independent expenditures. who is to say we won't see the same kind of expenditures in republican primaries coming up in 2014 and by the way to karen's point about the administration trying to use their database, their supporters to actually turn out and vote, that's the biggest challenge for the democratic party moving forward. how do you take this organization that's centered around one particular guy, president obama, and expand that to the entire democratic party as a whole? both parties are going through a real metamorphosis. it will be fascinating to watch over the next two, four, six

years. >> before we get out of here, warren buffett, the op-ed in the "new york times" and we all know in the past he said he personally would welcome a tax hike. >> right. >> here is a snippet from this morning. forget about the rich and ultra rich going on strike and stuffing their ample funds under their mattress if gas, capital gains rates, and ordinary income rates are increased, the ultra rich including me will forever pursue investment opportunities. where is the room for the gop to continue to argue against taxing the rich at a higher rate. >> there really isn't for a whole host of reasons not the least of which is politically speaking it doesn't make sense. the study you talked about at the beginning, here is what a lot of people don't realize. for many americans the way they do christmas, they take out a loan. that's how they pay for christmas presents hoping the tax return that they get back, the money they get back from the taxes will be able to pay off that loan. that's how a lot of americans are living their lives. i think the republicans have got

to recognize they can no longer not party that is going to defend as warren buffett put so well folks that have millions to hide under the mattress. >> always a pleasure. thank you so much. have a great week. >> up next, reversing course on susan rice. senator john mccain softening his stance toward the u.n. ambassador in a move that could pave the way to her becoming secretary of state. we'll talk about that plus after a record setting black friday cyber monday sales could not biggest yet. we'll tell you how much americans are expected to spend and the question of the day. read my lips. should the gop dump grover norquist's antitax pledge? tweet me and hit me up on facebook as well. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own

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to include only what they're calling sovereign decisions, that is such as declaring war. some judges have said that they could accept that amended decree and he reportedly is coming with

patrols as well and one getting a lot of play is increasing the number of non-islamist members in the assembly writing the new constitution and also increasing to two-thirds the vote to ratify any of the deal in any referendum which would make all parties, religious or secular, and they would have to come up with serious concessions to pass. back to you. >> jim, thank you. let's bring in mark ginsberg who served as u.s. ambassador to morocco and deputy senior adviser to president carter on middle east policy. ambassador, good to have you back. you have people like senator john mccain saying the united states needs to rebuke more and so far the state department, the response very tentative expressing resolve and urging them to resolve the differences peacefully. is this a situation where the u.s. needs to apply more pressure or should we step back and let egyptian leaders work this out themselves?

>> craig, elections have consequences and after all the egyptian people voted to put morsi and his party into power. the real struggle here as jim just mentioned is about the future of the parliament that was disbanded and the constitutional drafting committee whether or not in the end these two bodies will wind up reinforcing the islamization of egypt's society and this wasn't a close election so there is a divided country in egypt and this will have to play itself out. i don't think the united states should put took bogs in the fight at this point because we have bigger fish to fry to mix the metaphors up in gaza and the wore that morsi would play in helping to calm things down between israel and hamas. too much intervention at this point in time is not going to basically solve the overall problem for the united states and the middle east. >> i want to get your take on the republican opposition to susan rice who may be tapped to

succeed hillary clinton over the weekend, the harshest critic, john mccain softening the rhetoric. let's take a listen. >> is there anything that ambassador rice can do to change your mind? ? sure. i give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions they took and i will be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her. >> she couldn't conceivably get your vote for secretary of state? >> i think she deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself and her position. >> do you think that the republicans over played their hand by calling into question her fitness to serve? >> yes, absolutely. she was the person who did not deserve the diatribes that were coming from senators mccain and lindsey graham. i understand they're unhappiness and anger because christopher stevens, the slain ambassador, was a personal friend but susan rice, a qualified, talented woman, who clearly has done a great job at the united nations didn't deserve to be singled

out. she was only doing what the white house communications operation told her to do on those sunday talk shows. let's see how this plays out and i don't think that senator mccain has the support in his own republican senate caucus to launch a filibuster. >> quickly before i let you go, fascinating "washington post" article speculating on the future of secretary of state hillary clinton and talked about how she has remade american diplomacy by visiting countries she didn't have to visit and championing smaller initiatives as well and includes this quote, the answer to the question of whether hillary clinton will run for president in 2016, whether she will seek a job with the most power to do the most good of all is another question f whether she can keep herself from it. what do you think? >> craig, i have had the privilege of knowing the secretary for 35 years and the fact is that in the state department she is redefined the diplomacy of soft power and her travels have taken her to help focus on social development and

causes around the world that are consistent with what she did domestically and if she decides to run, it is because she wants to continue doing these types of goals and not only nationally but internationally and to her credit she has earned enormous respect and admiration around the world and basically elevated or reelevated the role of the united states around the world wherever she goes and people admire and respect her and to her credit she leaves with that type of admiration and support globally. >> really didn't answer my question there. i appreciate it anyway. thank you so much. >> okay. >> a look at the top headlines this morning. joe scarborough writing mandate, what mandate? and arguing republicans would not meekly fall in line to raise tax rates on the wealthiest americans and from the "wall street journal," emergency unemployment benefits for 2 million out of work americans set to expire at the end of the

year. since 2008 they extended benefits several times and now a further extension is caught up in the fight over the fiscal cliff and from the chicago tribune, this one, a crowd of hopefuls lines up to succeed former congressman jesse jackson junior and the governor expected to decide on the date for the special primary and the general elections as well. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

time for a look at the stories topping the news. lots of folks did not wait for cyber monday to do online shopping this year. black friday online sales topped $1 billion for the first time ever, a 26% jump over last year. a live report on cyber monday later this hour. detectives investigating the disappearance of casey anthony's 2-year-old daughter missed a key piece of evidence. the orange county sheriff's office confirms they overlooked computer records showing a

google search for the term fool proof suffocation. the powerball jackpot has grown to a record $425 million after no one drew the minimuming number saturday. sales for the multi state lottery are soaring that could make the payout higher before wednesday's drawing. new york giants tight end marcel bennett made the best catch skpefr it happened after last night's game against the packers and he actually caught a fan who had fallen over the rail at the stadium and he joked that he did what any super hero would do, saved the man's life and a pair of indianapolis colts cheerleaders shaved their heads in support of head coach chuck nagano battling leukemia. they raised $22,000 for cancer research. ♪

oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late. republicans throwing down the hammer on talk of ambassador

susan rice as secretary of state may be softening their tone. after weeks of targeting rice over intelligence related to the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, the white house and the ambassador herself appear to have stemmed some of that criticism. here was the weekly standards over the weekend. >> i rather think he will appoint susan rice, and i think i am not a huge fan of hers, but i think she is likely to be confirmed by the senate. john kerry may be a worse secretary of state so maybe one let's him go ahead and have the secretary of state he wants. >> secretary of state hillary clinton not the only cabinet position he has to fill as he looks to the second term. joining me, chuck todd, chief white house correspondent and political director and host of the daily rundown on nsnbc as well. start with susan rice, john mccain, bill crystal among republicans that seem a little more open to her replacing hillary clinton now. what happened? >> a couple things. one, sustaining a filibuster, they realized is that a fight

worth having and it wasn't clear the republicans, there really was this type of energy if you will in the republican conference on the senate side to do something like that. then secondly on the merits and this is what bill crystal was hinting at. bill crystal, neoconservative if you will and interventionist and there is certainly a big chunk of senate republicans that put themselves in that respect. if you take a look at the philosophical differences, that's why he ends upsiding on the susan rice, much more interventionist if you will than a john kerry. john kerry, somebody that has a history of voting against intervening and i think suddenly a lot of these guys said wait a minute we can have a benghazi proxy fight in another avenue, maybe if these are the two choices we'll line up susan rice, not john kerry. >> go to the treasury department.

suggesting that replacing tim geithner with a woman would help break up the old boys wall street club. there are the ladies on the long list, christina romer, laura tyson, janet yellen. what are you hearing about who could be rising to the top of the list. >> janet yellen is more likely to be a candidate for fed chair if bernanke, if the president decides not to appoint bernanke for another term. i would take yellowen off the list. christina romer will not be on the list. she didn't really fit in with well the administration the first time. the name i hear among women candidates is lale brainerd, over there now, very well respected on the international front and delta lot with issues having to do with the european debt crisis and very much hands on when it came to these deals that the eu was striking with greece, so really familiar with that territory and with that crisis and that of course is one of the big issues there. i think she would be more likely than any of those but, look, the

front-runner, current chief of staff, former budget director, i hear some hess tans sigh a little inside the white house and some in the wall street community not big fans of lou and even among some on capitol hill and i do, it is my understanding, there is a larger outreach effort going on by the white house to look for some more candidates. >> report. chuck todd, do appreciate you as always. >> you got it. >> don't miss a day of the daily rundown. if you miss t you miss a lot. every weekday 9 a.m. only here on msnbc. >> we have to have a bigger tent. no doubt about it. obviously we have to do immigration reform. there is no doubt whatsoever that the demographics are not on our side. we are going to have to give a much more positive agenda. it can't be just being against the democrats. >> republicans senator john mccain openly admitting a huge failure to capture the latino

vote on election day is forcing his party to rethink the messaging and the policies as well. one big sign of that comes this week as the gop votes to expand visas for foreign, science and to make it easier for immigrants with green cards to bring their families to america. joining me from austin, texas, latino and msnbc contributor dr. victor victoria soto. how would you describe the gop's decision to move on this issue? is it pandering or is it truly an effective means of establishing the bigger tent that the senator just mentioned? >> they're going back to their george w. bush roots. they saw what worked in 2000 and 2004 and realized that they can't move forward without putting into place a latino strategy, and the plan that senator mccain was talking about is essentially a distilled version of what mitt romney talked about this summer in

terms of bringing over more highly skilled workers and also allowing for greater family reunification. however, there is going to be two obstacles there, one from the republicans themselves because there is still a strong segment that wants enforcement only and from the democrats because within the democratic party we have immigration advocates, very strong advocates that want the whole enchilada, all or nothing, and they won't go for a piecemeal approach which is a shame because we know the latino electorate actually supports even something rather than nothing up is as in the deferred action program that president obama put into place, wildly supported among latinos, so hopefully the political wishes of the elected leaders and those of the electorate will come together. >> president obama of course won the latino vote by huge margin, at least 70 to 30, there it is right there. karl rove is convinced that the

gop can win back some of the latino voters by highlighting socially conservative values on things like gay marriage, abortion as well, and any credibility to that strategy? >> there is a tad to that and the issue that is we talk about these broad generalizations that latinos are socially conservative, and that myth gets perpetuated because latinos are overwhelmingly catholic and we know that catholicism looks down on abortion and doesn't permit abortion or gay marriage. when you break that down, we see that latinos can compartment allies. they may be catholic but over 70% of latinoss self-identify as democrats. what we do see, however, and this is where karl rove is really banking on making entryways with latinos is that certain segments of the latino community are quite conservative. to begin with evangelicals are very conservative and also those who are closer to the immigration experience. so if you're first generation,

you're going to be more conservative and be more antiabortion than say a second or third generation latino. so we see pockets of latinos that could be wooed but you will have to microtarget the segments. it can't be a blanket campaign just on gay marriage and abortion. >> really quickly before i let you go we learned the night before president kennedy was assassinated he spoke before a room of mexican american civil rights activists making him the first president to historically court the latino vote. what can president obama do to carry the torch so to speak? >> well, absolutely. in 1960 we saw john f. kennedy not first to court latinos and it is being responsive, something as simple as listening to latino demands and later on we saw with lbj carrying forward jfk's commitment to the latino electorate in terms of civil rights, so listening and taking

action. >> thank you so much. >> good day. >> and for more of victory's thoughts on this and other pressing political issues all you have to do is go to nbclatino.com. a bunch of retail records broken this weekend and now it is cyber monday. americans have shopped until they dropped for the past few takes and will they shop more? plus a big week for same sex marriage with the supreme court possibly taking up the issue in marriage equality and advocates are on the march in several more states and we're going to talk with a human rights campaign which is turning up the heat with the new ad with a familiar voice. don't forget our question of the day. read my lips. should the gop dump grover norquist's antitax pledge? you can tweet me at craigmelvin, one word, or hit me up on facebook as well. ♪

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it was a blockbuster weekend for retailers, 35 million americans getting an early start by shopping on thursday. that is 6 million more thanksgiving day shoppers than last year and 89 million people braved the crowds on black friday itself. that is up from 86 million in 2011, and the record 247 million people shopped over the entire weekend with the average shopper spending $423, that's $25 more than last year, but the biggest number of all, 1 billion online shoppers spent more than that this black friday and could spend a billion more today. cyber monday. joining me now courtney reagan following all the cyber monday action. courtney, i understand it is estimated this cyber monday could not biggest ever, up 20% from last year and cyber monday and who is offering the best

deals and which companies are expected to make a killing? >> i got to tell you, craig, almost every retailer is offering a really good deal. it is almost hard to pick one. they're watching each other. they're trying to one up each other and as soon as they do that someone else makes a move and it changes. my best advice is keep surfing and checking the individual retailers websites and grab that skew number and punch it into one of your search engines and see if you can price compare. the prices could change. you do have to be vigilant. so far today online sales are up 21% compared to last year. we're not done yet. we're going to look at this over a 24-hour period and you mentioned comscore says over a billion dollars in sales done on black friday and today is the day that really most folks think we'll get the most online traffic and some estimates adobe up to $2 billion they think will be done today online. >> courtney reagan, thank you so much. appreciate that. bald might be beautiful, but

it is also purely bipartisan. time for the side bar with the communications director for the ren an and democratic parties shave their heads for a good cause. no, not the fiscal cliff but to raise money for childhood cancer research. jonathan carl had the honors and shawn spicer and brad wood house explain how it went down on the daily rundown. >> i lost the bet. brad got a call from an organization that raises money for childhood cancer and he in a good natured bipartisan way decided that he would jump in and we would do it together to raise money for the charity and so we did. >> where do people go. >> saintbarringers.org, a wonderfully important charity that focuses all of its attention on childhood cancers. >> the vice president went cold turkey for children's library. joe biden spent the holiday

weekend in nantucket where he participated in the annual cold turkey plunge. he jumped into the ice cold waters of the nantucket sound, and senator ashley judd? not likely to happen. at least not according to the actress's grandmother, polly judd, telling the associated press, quote, i don't think there is any possibility of that happening. ashley judd has not ruled out a run herself, but would have to re-establish residence in kentucky before she could challenge mitch mcconnell in 2014. ♪ i have a cold, and i took nyquil,

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we asked, you answered. read my lips. should the gop dump grover n

norquist's tax pledge? lindsay writing when many took this pledge they were in i different time and place. they shouldn't be bound by a pledge that was right for a certain time period. in order to fix our economic problems, all options need to be on the table. susie kaplan writes individual signatures so individual decisions. congress' allegiance is to all people, not one. and this is from mazy, if they are just for the ones he wants them to serve, they should not be in office. thank you for all your facebook and twitter responses there. this week the supreme court may consider whether to take on cases relating to marriage inequality including a challenge to california's proposition 8. the high court's rule follows election day victories in four states for same-sex marriages. activists are trying to keep up that momentum. they're going ahead, looking at seven more states they believe they can legalize the issue in

by 2014. their effort also include ace powerful new tv ad from the human rights campaign. it is narrated by a familiar voice. this is oscar-winning actor morgan freeman. >> america stands at the dawn of a new day. freedom, justice and human dignity have always guided our journey toward a more perfect union. now across our country, we are standing together for the right of gay and lesbian americans to marry the person they love. >> joining me now, the hrc's d.c. president, chad griffin. chad, good morning to you, first of all. >> good morning. >> you told "the new york times" this video isn't meant to be interpreted as some sort of victory lap for lgbt rights, through there has to be a sense of achievement given recent electoral victories. >> there is no question this is historic when it comes to marriage equality.

we saw the first president that supports marriage equality to be re-elected. we saw three states pass marriage equality. we saw minnesota defeat a hateful marriage ban. we saw our first openly gay united states senator be elected, tammy baldwin. it really was a historic night. now we have to galvanize that support and take this momentum and catapult us to our next victories. >> nine states, including d.c. in nine states and the district couples can now marry. i want to take a look at the seven states that you guys have identified. oregon, colorado, minnesota, new jersey, hawaii. how did you arrive at these states in particular? >> well, craig, there are a number of states across the country that are looking at the issue of marriage equality. so it goes -- it starts in the east coast with rhode island and goes across the country all the way to hawaii where state legislators and fair-minded elected officials are standing up for full equality for all of

their citizens. i expect in the next weeks and months ahead, you'll see a number of other victories. they're still going to be hard fought. our opposition is fighting day in and day out to keep marriage equality from reaching other states in this country. but they are losing their momentum. >> in which states do you guys think you've got your best chance at success? >> well, look, i am optimistic across the board where state legislators are considering this, because we have seen these victories with bipartisan support. for instance, in the most recent state legislative victories where we saw marriage equality passed in washington and maryland, that happened because republicans and democrats stood together with their governors leading the charge there. so i'm optimistic about our opportunities all the way from rhode island and delaware to illinois to hawaii. >> lgbt voters of course helped fuel president obama's re-election. what are you looking for from the president in his second term to move the country forward on

this issue? >> that's right, craig. it's important to note what you just said. 5% of the electorate identified as lgb in this election. six million voters. when the vote margin is close, you can see that lgbt people can make the difference in these elections and i expect we will increasingly do so. look, this president has made history in his first term, and it's my hope that in a second term we will see a number of other historic victories with more openly gay officials appointed throughout the administration, including the cabinet, and an executive order when it comes to federal contractors and workplace nondiscrimination protections. there are a number of things that we still have to do for full equality to be felt in every single corner of this vast country. we still have a lot of work to do but the momentum is on our side, no question. >> d.c.'s human rights campaign president, chad griffin. chad, thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me, craig. >> that wraps it up for me. thomas roberts will be back

tomorrow, 11:00 a.m. eastern. joining him tomorrow former state department spokesman p.j. crowley, joe lock hart and democratic strategist doug thornall. "now with alex wagner" is up next. ari, what have you got coming up next, brother? >> thanks, craig. will congress be the grinch that stole christmas? a new white house report warns that failure to address the fiscal cliff could spoil holiday spending. we have cnbc's eamon to explain all that. plus more rinse are unpledging allegiance to grover norquist's tax rules. we'll look at how that may be unraveling and what it reveals about washington's new power brokers. also, just how top secret can a top secret spy program be when it's getting spoofed on "saturday night live." ? we'll explain in just three

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holiday cheer and fiscal cliff fears. the white house releases a new report on christmas shopping and budget negotiations. it's monday, november 26th, and this is "now." alex wagner will be back tomorrow. joining me today from politico, ben white, assistant managing editor of "time" magazine, ronna, jody can tor of "the new york times" and the good professor himself, michael eric dyson. after a record-setting holiday weekend, consumers are expected to spend a lot of cash on what retailers call cyber monday. americans will spend $1.5 billion online today, a 20% bump from lastea